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R.I.C.H.A. 

Rhode Island Independence Day 
ADDRESSES AND POEMS 

Nineteen Hundred and Ten 



Rhode Island 
INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Addresses 

May 4, 1910 



ADDRESS-By THOMAS W. BIGKNELL 



ADDRESS-By Rev. EDWARD HOLYOKE 



ADDRESS-By Mrs. ELLEN RYAN JOLLY 



Historical Papers 

Governor Nicholas Gooke Edward Bosworth 

Gen. Thomas Allin 

By THOMAS W. BIGKNELL 



UNDER THE AUSPICES OF 

The 

Rhode Island Citizens Historical 

Association 

1910 



The Recognition of 

the 4th of May 

AS 

RHODE ISLAND INDEPENDENCE DAY 



Governor Arnold in the first volume of his history of The 
State of Rhode Island, p. 372 says, ''The last Colonial Assembly of 
Rhode Island met at Providence on May the Fourth. 

The last important act in the colonial history of Rhode Island 
is now to be recorded. It was the Act abjuring allegiance to the 
British Crown ; in effect a Declaration of Independence. It closes 
the colonial period of our history, for it established Rhode Island 
as an independent State, two months before the general Declara- 
tion of the United Colonies." Then follows the Act and the names 
of the general officers of the new State and the members of the Gen- 
eral Assembly. Governor Arnold adds, "History should preserve the 
names of the actors in this closing scene of our colonial drama. 
May, 1776." 

All persons well informed in the history of the State were famil- 
iar with the recorded facts, but few had recognized their import- 
ance. Mr. James S. Slater of Slatersville, R. I., states that a teacher 
in Illinois told him the story of our Independence Day and that he 
has raised a flag on Independence Day at Slatersville, since 1894. 
A celebration was held at Slatersville in 1906. In Bristol, R. I. ap- 
propriate services have been held in the public schools on the Fourth 



of May, since 1901, under direction of Supt. John Post Reynolds, 
for several 3'ears the Chapters of the D. A. R. have met in honor of 
the day. This honor of recognizing the day, by a public celebration, 
belongs to The Rhode Island Citizens Historical Association. On 
the Fourth of May, 1906, the citizens of the state were invited to 
honor the day, and as far as possible to unite with the Society in its 
patriotic services. Invitations were sent to the Governor, State 
Officers, members of the General Assembl.v, the Judges of the 
Courts, to all patriotic and historic societies and to the churches and 
civic bodies to attend the services at the Mathewson Street M. E. 
Church, Providence, R. I. Governor George H. Utter, Ex-Gover- 
nors William Sprague, Augustus O. Bourne, Charles Warren Lip- 
pitt, Charles Dean Kimball, Prof. W. H. Munro, President of the 
Rhode Island Historical Society. Prominent representatives of pa- 
triotic and historic societies were present and a large audience of the 
citizens of the state; Hon. Thomas W. Bicknell, President of the 
Rhode Island Citizens Historical Association presided. Prayer was 
offered by Rev. Henry M. King, D. D., pastor of the First Baptist 
Church, Providence. The introductory was made by President 
Bicknell, followed by an address by Mr. James N. Arnold. The 
principal historic address was given by Hon. Charles Warren 
Lippitt of Providence, who delivered an able and exhaustive dis- 
cussion of the action of the General Assembly of May Fourth, 1776, 
proving by undoubted authorities, Rhode Island's claim to preced- 
ence in declaring Colonial Independence of Great Britain. This 
address was a masterly product and will become a State classic. It 
is published in the volume of Proceedings of the year 1909. The 
act of The General Assembly of May Fourth, 1776, declaring for 
Independence was read by John A. Anderson, a pupil of the Provi- 
dence High School. Mr. Bowen R. Church played the cornet and 
Miss Helen Louise Ames sang. Patriotic hymns were sung by the 
audience. The Providence newspapers gave generous space and 



praise for the celebration, and a deep impression was made by the 
first celebration. In 1907 the celebration was held in The Repre- 
sentatives Hall of the Old State House on North Main and Benefit 
Streets and on each Fourth of May since. In recognition of the day 
Governor Higgins ordered a salute to be fired at noon. At the Hall, 
Bishop McVickar offered prayer, Miss Mary A. Greene, Regent of 
the Gaspee Chapter, D. A. R., read the R. I. Declaration of Indepen- 
dence. Addresses followed from Prest. Bicknell, Governor Hig- 
gins, Hon. Theodore F. Greene and Hon. Roswell B. Burchard. 
An original poem was read by Mrs. Harriette M. Miller. On the 
Fourth of May, 1908, prayer was made by Rev. Thomas F. Doran, 
Vicar-General, Providence Diocese, R. C. C., David J. White, Esq., 
read the Declaration, and addresses were made by President Bick- 
nell and Hon. Roswell B. Burchard. An original poem was read by 
Mrs. F. Adelia Reynolds. The Misses Ames of Providence were 
the vocalists. 

At the January session of the General Assembly, 1908, an act 
was passed in recognition of the day as worthy of public recogni- 
tion. To preserve the history of this legislation, the following let- 
ter is published: 

Hon. Thos. W. Bicknell, 

Dear Sir : In answer to your question concerning May Fourth 
Legislation would say — 

Tuesday May fifth, nineteen hundred and eight, January Ses- 
sion of the General Assembly "Mr. Reynolds introduces an Act 
(House 319) relating to annual observance of the Fourth Day of 
May. Read and referred to Committee on Education." (House 
Journal). 

On Tuesday, May twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and eight, 
the last day of the Session, Senator George H. Helm of North 
Smithfield presented (Senate 141) 



"An Act providing for the observance of the Fourth Day of 
May in each year, and upon motion of said Senator, said bill was 
read and passed under a suspension of the rules." (Senate Jour- 
nal). 

On the same day the bill was communicated to the House and 
upon my request for immediate consideration was "read and passed 
in concurrence." (House Journal). 

The law has become Section 8-12 inclusive, of Chap. 64 of the 
1909 Revision of the General Laws of Rhode Island. 

Yours very truly, 

Vinton I. Reynolds. 

The act, passed as above, was written by Mr. James S. Slater 
of Slatersville, R. I. 

In 1909, prayer was made by Rev. Frank J. Goodwin of Paw- 
tucket. Vocal and instrumental music by Miss Ella B. Ball, Miss 
Olive E. Russell and Mr. \\''illiam Andros. The Declaration was 
read by Prof. Horatio B. Knox of the State Normal School, an 
original poem was read by Mrs. Sarah A. Chandler, and addresses 
were made by President Bicknell, Hon. William P. Sheffield, House 
of Representatives, U. S. A., and Governor Aram J. Pothier. This 
voluine contains a program and exercises on May Fourth, 1910. It 
is distributed to the State Officers and Members of the General As- 
sembly, to all town libraries and to leading historical societies, as 
previous volumes have been. These pamphlets contain a lively dis- 
cussion of the events leading up to the American Revolution and a 
presentation of the historic facts in the part Rhode Island played in 
that great drama. From these pamphlets the future historian will 
take note of the appreciative spirit and the note- worthy action of the 
men of this generation. 

Thomas W. Bicknell, 
President Rhode Island Citkens Historical Association. 
Jan. 1, 1911. 



EXERCISES 

ON 

Wednesday, May 4th, 1910, 

at 3 P. M. 

AT THE Old State House, North Main Street, 
Providence, R. I. 



Miss Helen Louise Ames, Soloist. 
Miss Florence E. Ames, Accompanist. 



Honorable Thomas W. Bicknell, 

President of the Rhode Island Citizens Historical Association, 

will preside. 



I. Singing— The One Hundredth Psalm, by the Congregation. 

II. Prayer— Rev. Henry Englander, Rabbi Congregation 
Sons of Israel and David. 

III. Vocal Solo — Miss Ames. 

IV. Address by Thomas W. Bicknell, President of Rhode Island 

Citizens Historical Association. 



10 

V. Si.XGiNG — " America," by the Congregation. 

VI. Reading of the Act Declaring Our Independence. 

VII. Vocal Solo — Miss Ames. 

VIII. Historical Address, by Rev. Edward Holyoke. 

IX. Original Poem — Mrs. Ellen Ryan Jolly, Pavvtucket, R. I. 

X. Vocal Solo — Recessional, (Kipling), Miss Ames. 

XI. Singing — " God Save the State." 

XII. Benediction. 



Rhode Island's 

Declaration of Independence 

May 4th, 1776 



AN ACT, 

Repealing an act, entitled "An act, for the more eflectually 
securing to His Majesty the allegiance of his subjects in this, his 
Colony and dominion of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." 
And altering the forms of Commissions, of all writs and processes 
in the Courts and of the oaths preserved 'by Law. 

Whereas, in all states, existing by compact, protection and al- 
legiance are reciprocal, the latter being only due in consequence 
of the former ; and, 

Wpiereas, George the Third, King of Great Britain, forgetting 
his dignity, regardless of the compact most solemnly entered into, 
ratified and confirmed to the inhabitants of this Colony by his illus- 
trious ancestors, and till of late, fully recognized by him, and entirely 
departing from the duties and character of a good King, instead of 
protecting, is endeavoring to destroy the good people of this Colony, 
and of all the United Colonies, by sending fleets and armies to 
America to confiscate our property, and spread fire, sword and des- 
olation throughout our country, in order to compel us to submit to 
the most debasing and detestable tyranny; whereby we are obliged 
by neccessity, and it becomes our highest duty, to use every means 



12 



with which God and nature have furnished us, in support of our 
inviolable rights and privileges, to oppose that power which is ex- 
erted only for our destruction. 

Be it therefore enacted by this General Assembly, and by the 
authority thereof it is enacted, that an act, entitled "An act for the 
more effectually securing to His Majesty the allegiance of his sub- 
jects, in this his Colony and dominion of Rhode Island and Provi- 
dence Plantations," be, and the same is hereby repealed. 

And be it further enacted by this General Assembly, and by the 
authority thereof, it is enacted, that in all commissions for offices. 
Civil and Military, and in all writs and processes in law, whether 
original, judicial or executory, civil or criminal, whereon the name 
and authority of the said King is made use of, the same shall be 
omitted, and in the room thereof, the name and authority of the 
Governor and Company of this Colony shall be substituted in the 
following words, to wit : 

The Goverxor and Company of the English Colony 
OF Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 

That all such commissions, writs and processes shall be other- 
wise of the same form and terms as they heretofore were ; that the 
Courts of Law be no longer entitled nor considered as the King's 
Courts; and that no instrument in writing, of any nature or kind, 
whether public or private, shall, in the date thereof, mention the year 
of the said King's reign. 

Provided, nevertheless, that nothing in this act contained shall 
render void or vitiate any commission, writ, process or instrument 
heretofore made or executed, on account of the name and authority 
of the said King being therein inserted. 



13 



GENERAL ASSEMBLY— MAY 1776. 



The Hon. Nicholas Cooke, Governor. 

The Hon. William Bradford, Deputy Governor. 



Assistants. 



Mr. John Collins. 
Ma j. -Gen. Simeon Potter, 
Mr. Ambrose Page, 
Mr. John Sayles, Jr., 
Mr. John Jepson, 



Mr. James x\rnold, 
" Mr. Jonathan Randall. 
Mr. Peter Phillips, 
Mr. William Potter, 
Mr. Thomas Church. 



Mr. John Wanton, 
Mr. Samuel Fowler, 
Mr. George Sears, 

Col. Jonathan Arnold, 
Mr. John Brown, 

Mr. Metcalfe Bowler, 
Mr. John Thurston. 



Deputies. 
Newport. 

Mr. Gideon Wanton, 
Mr. Thomas Freebody, 
Col. Joseph Belcher. 

Providence. 

Mr. John Smith, 
Col. Amos Atwell. 

Portsmouth. 

]\±r. John Coddington, 



Mr. William Greene, 
Mr. Charles Holden, Jr., 



Warwick. 

Mr. Jacob Greene, 
Col. John Waterman. 
Westerly. 
Maj.-Gen. Joshua Babcock, Col. Joseph Noyes. 

North Kingstozvn. 
Mr. John Northup, Mr. Sylvester Gardner. 



14 



South Kingstown. 
Capt. Samuel Seagar, Mr. Samuel Babcock. 

East Greemvich. 
Mr. Job Comstock, Mr. Thomas Shippee. 

Jamestoivn. 
Capt. Samuel Carr, Mr. Benjamin Underwood. 

Smithficld. 
Mr. Daniel Mowry, Jr., Capt. Andrew Waterman. 

ScitKate 
Col. William West, Mr. Christopher Potter. 

Glocester. 
Mr. Richard Steere, Col. Chad Brown. 

Charlcstown. 
Capt. Joseph StantO!i, Jr., Mr. Jonathan Hazard. 

West Greemvich. 
Mr. Thomas TilHnghast, Mr. Judiah A3'lsworth. 

Coventry. 
Mr. Ephraim Westcott. Mr. Jeremiah Fenner. 

Exeter. 
Mr. George Pierce. 

Middletown. 
Mr. Joshua Barker, ;Mr. Nicholas Easton. 

Bristol. 
Mr. Shearjashub Bourne, Col. Nathaniel Pearce. 

Tiverton. 
Mr. Gideon Almy, Col. John Cooke, 

Little Conipton. 
Capt. Thomas Brownell, Mr. Daniel Wilbur. 

Warren. 
Mr. Cromwell Child. Col. Sylvester Child. 

Cnntherland. 
Mr. John De.xter, Capt. Elisha Waterman. 



15 



Richmond. 
Mr. Samuel Tefft, Major Richard Bailey. 

Cranston. 
Mr. Andrew Harris, Mr. Zuriel Waterman. 

Johnston. 
Mr. John Fenner, Mr. Peleg Williams. 

North Providence. 
Major Thomas Olney, Mr. Jonathan Jenckes, Jr. 

Barrington. 
Mr. Edward Bosworth, Capt. Thomas Allin. 

Hopkinton. 

Mr. John Larkin, Mr. Thomas Wells. 

The Hoist. Metcalfe Bowler, Speaker. 

JosL\H Lyndon, Clerk. Mr. Henry Ward, Secretary. 

Mr. Henry Marchant, Attorney-General. 

Mr. Joseph Clarke, General Treasurer. 



Rhode Island's 
Independence Day 



An Act Providing for the Observance of the Fourth of May 

IN Each Year. 
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows : 

Section i. The fourth day of May in each and every year 
hereafter is hereby estabHshed, in this state, as "Rhode Island In- 
dependence Day;" — ^being a just tribute to the memory of the mem- 
bers of our General Assembly, who, on the fourth day of May, 1776 
■ — in the State House at Providence, passed an act renouncing alle- 
giance of the colony to the British Crown, and by the provisions 
of that act declaring it sovereign and independent ; — the first official 
act of its kind by any one of the thirteen American colonies. 

Sec. 2. On each and every fourth day of May hereafter, ex- 
cept when the said day falls on the first day of the week (commonly 
called Sunday), then on the day following, the governor shall cause 
salutes of thirteen guns to be fired, at 12 o'clock, noon, by detach- 
ments of the state artillery, at all places in the state where stationed, 
and shall cause a display of state and national flags on all armories 
and other state buildings from sunrise to sunset, in honor of 
"Rhode Island Independence Day." 

Sec. 3. The fourth day of May in each and every year here- 
after is hereby established in the annual school calendar to be known 
as "Rhode Island Independence Day," and shall be observed with 
patriotic exercises in all the public schools of the state, as herein- 
after named. It is also provided that when such day shall fall on 
Saturday, or on Sunday, such patriotic school exercises shall be 
on the preceding or following days, respectively, as the case may be. 



17 



Sec. 4. The state Commissioner of Public Schools shall annu- 
ally prepare a program of patriotic exercises for the proper obser- 
vance of "Rhode Island Independence Day" in the schools, and 
shall furnish printed copies of the same to the school committees of 
the several cities and towns of the state, at least four weeks pre- 
vious to the fourth day of May in each year. 

Sec. 5. The fourth day of May as herein named shall in no- 
wise be construed as a holiday. 

Sec. 6. This act shall take effect on its passage. 

Passed May 26, 1908. 

The Association hereby expresses its thanks to the General 
Assembly for an appropriation to print the present volume. Its 
pages contain historic truths and lessons of patriotism and civic 
virtue of great value for all the people of our commonwealth. 

THOMAS W. BICKNELL, 

President R. I. C.H. A. 
June 15, 1909. 



The Prayer 

BY 

REV. DR. HENRY ENGLANDER 

Rabbi of the Congregation Sons of Israel and David. 



Our heavenl}- Father, the Giver of all good, we thank Thee for 
the inspiration of this celebration, so rich in memories of the con- 
science and the courage of those who signed the document that pro- 
claimed this, our beloved commonwealth, to be sovereign. We 
thank Thee for the heroism that made it possible for them success- 
fully to maintain that claim. We thank thee for that large, lib- 
eral and high-minded spirit of religious freedom in which our State 
was born and bathed. 

We thank Thee for the efforts of this and like organizations 
that seek to keep alive, from generation to generation, the inspiring 
records of the past, the matchless heroism, the dauntless courage 
that make the early history of our State stand forth in resplendent 
glory, an eloquent call to the present generation to exercise the 
highe.st and the best that is in it. 

Grant that those who now live, and will live under the aegis 
of this State, will prove themselves ever more worthy of her best 
traditions and highest achievements. Grant, we pray Thee, that the 
present population, made up of the blood of well nigh every nation 
on this Thy great footstool, will be unified and united in its loyalty 
and devotion to the State, through its warmth of love for those 



19 



ideals of justice, righteousness and liberty that animated the 
pioneers and the fathers of our commonwealth. 

May the old heroism and courage find renewed life and ex- 
pression in the modern warfare against every form of evil and in- 
justice that may attack our body politic. May we hear the voices 
of the past generations calling to us to remember our duty to further 
the great work of upbuilding our State on the highest principles of 
humanity. 

May the words of retrospect and prospect, that will be spoken 
here this afternoon, deepen our faith and strengthen our hope in 
and for the future of our beloved State. May this historic struct- 
ure, around which cluster so many fond memories, stand as a sign 
and witness to the covenant into which we enter by virtue of our 
residence here, to help to realize and to materialize as far as in our 
individual power the divine dreams of the founders. 

We fervently invoke Thy blessing upon this our State and na- 
tion. Guard them, O God, from calamity and injury. May their 
adversaries not triumph over them, but the glories of a just, right- 
eous and God-fearing people increase from age to age. Enlighten 
and sustain with Thy power those whom the people have set in au- 
thority, the mayor, the governor, the president, their counselors, 
advisers, judges, lawgivers and executives, and all those who are 
entrusted with our safety and with the guardianship of our rights 
and liberties. May peace and good will obtain amongst all the 
citizens of our land. May religion spread its blessing among us, 
and exalt our nation in righteousness. Amen. 



"A Lively Experiment" 

AN ADDRESS 

BY 

THOMAS W. BICKNELL 

President of the Rhode Island Citizens 
Historical Association 



One year ago, in this liall, and from this platform, I made an 
address on "The Royal Charter of Rhode Island of 1663, as the Con- 
stitutional Basis of Civil and Religious Freedom in America." I 
aimed to show that its broad principles, its comprehensive scope, its 
practical statesmanship and its Catholic spirit, entitled that charter 
to stand first among the State papers of England or America. My 
convictions as to the correctness of that position have been vastly 
strengthened by a more careful study of early historic material re- 
lating to the evolution of Democracy, as a world movement, begin- 
ning with the Hebrew Commonwealth, founded by Moses and con- 
tinuing through the Greek and Latin Republics and the great demo- 
cratic movement in the days of Charlemagne and the later Charter 
of King John of England. I am now prepared to add and to de- 
fend the proposition, that the Rhode Island Charter, ivrittcn by Dr. 
John Clarke of Nezvport, Rhode Island and signed by King Charles 
of England, 1663, is, in its essence, scope and value, the greatest dec- 
laration of human rights and the most complete and masterly state- 



21 



ment of the philosophy, the methods and the ends of Civil govern- 
ment that 7i'as ever zvritten and proclaimed among men. 

"A Lively Experiment" are three words of the Charter and are 
the text of my present address. In what I shall say, I am conscious 
of the criticism that my position may awaken, but my reverence for 
truth and love of justice outweigh all words of dispraise. What I 
now claim and shall endeavor to show is this that "The lively ex- 
periment of soul liberty'' made in the early years of the seventeenth 
century, on American soil, and in our early colonial life, was not 
the labor or experiences or even the creation of the mind of one man 
or a few men, but was an age movement, participated in by many 
men and women, under diverse conditions, and with divers results, — 
that no one man can claim, nor can it be claimed for any one man of 
that period, that he was the sole or even the chief apostle of Soul 
liberty. Concerning "The Lively Experiment" — it can be fairly stated 
that Rhode Island was one of the storm centers of the conflicts of 
Soul Liberty with the old doctrines of political sovereignty in spirit- 
ual affairs and that within her narrow domain many choice and 
chosen advocates of the liberal doctrine gathered as by magnetic 
attraction. Each, according to his several ability, contributed his 
share to the general result of a free commonwealth, protecting a 
free church. Our discussion today aims to equalize the honors, 
which, by some ecclesiastical partiality or personal frailty, seem to 
the speaker to have been unfairly distributed and by many partial 
writers to have been centered on one man, Roger Williams of Provi- 
dence. 

His name has been lauded for a hundred years as the father of 
the child named "Freedom of Conscience." The fact is "Freedom" 
had a much earlier parentage in Thomas Browne of 1584, in Martin 
Luther of 1483-1546, and in the Waldenses of 1170. Roger was 
only one of thousands of people who believed that man's civil rights 
and rights of conscience were sacred and that the State ought to pro- 



22 



tect both. Every martyr at the stake declared that with his dying- 
gasp. Every head severed by the axe, on the executioner's block, 
was a witness to the principle of man's independence in his religious 
as well as civic concerns. Every ship that crossed the Atlantic, 
with its cargo of men, women and children, bound for a new world, 
was loaded with a freight of ideas, surcharged with freedom in 
spiritual concerns. The westward gales that filled their sails, were 
friendly allies of their hopes. A land of freedom welcomed the 
Pilgrims, who sought release from civil and religious tyranny. Not 
all had the same ideas as to the practical working out of the prob- 
lems of man's spiritual independence of the civil authority in things 
.spiritual, but all had the fever for the possession of all that was 
true in man's nature and estate. John Winthrop at Boston, Thomas 
Cushman and Governor Bradford at Plymouth, Samuel Gorton and 
John Clarke at Rhode Island, William Penn in Pennsylvania, John 
Smith in Virginia. George Calvert in Maryland, and the Hugenots 
in Georgia, were all disciples of a greater master than Williams, for 
they followed the Lord Christ, who was the earlier founder of 

*'A Church without a Bishop; 
A State without a King." 

Nearly a hundred years after the tri-color flag of France was 
first spread to the winds of Newport Harbor by Verrazano in 1524, 
the Mayflower, with the flag of St. George at her peak, anchored in 
Cape Cod Bay, ]\Iass., November 11, 1620, with 101 Englishmen on 
board. This new land to which they had come in the earlier days, 
bore the name "New France" now that of "New England.'' 

The golden dreams of vast continental possessions, wealth and 
power, of Spain and France, had been transferred to England. In 
Marston's play of "Eastward Ho," Seagull says. "I tell thee, gold is 
more plentiful there than copper is with us ; and for as much red 



23 



copper as I can bring I'll have thrice the weight in gold. Why, man, 
all their drippin pans are pure gold and all the chains with 
which they chain up their streets are massive gold : and for rubies 
and diamonds, they go forth in Holy days and gather them by the 
seashore to hang on their children's coats and stick in their children's 
caps." And to cap all, he promises, "No more law than conscience 
and not too much of either." 

While many English men and some women and children thought 
chiefly of the gold and jewels, promised in the new world, another 
class, a very large one, looked on the new West as a place for found- 
ing homes and for freedom in law and conscience. They dreamed 
of a land where men and women would be equal in each other's 
sight as in the sight of God. Of those Pilgrims who came to New 
England, Mrs. Hemans asks, 

"What sought they this afar? ' 

Bright jewels of the mine? 

The wealth of seas ? 

The spoils of war? 
They sought a faith's pure shrine." 

"Aye call it holy ground 

The place where first they trod 
They have left unstained what there they found 
Freedom to worship God." 

If the soil of Massachusetts is called "Holy Ground," that of 
Rhode Island may be called "The Holy of Holies," for the men who 
made Rhode Island were not agreeable companions with the men of 
Boston, and the trinity who may be called the founders of the Col- 
ony and the state were banished from Boston and Plymouth, only to 
find a place for refuge among the Indian tribes on the Narragansett 



24 



Bay. These great men were Roger Williams of Providence, John 
Clarke of Newport, and Samuel Gorton of Warwick, — each well 
fitted for a special work in founding a state. 

Samuel Gorton was the oldest of the three and was born in 

England in 1592. Roger Williams was born seven years later in 
1599 and John Clarke the youngest, was born ten years after Mr. 
Williams, in 1609. 

Before we study each of these great men, a few things may be 
said of all of them and of about twenty, fifty or a hundred more who 
settled at Newport and Warwick and Providence. All of these good 
people came to Massachusetts to stay and to make homes for their 
families. All believed that a man's conscience was not subject to 
the law^s of the State, as his conduct was. All thought that a man 
ought to be free to worship God as he pleased, provided he did not 
interfere with the rights of his neighbors. All believed in "a church 
without a Bishop, a state without a King." All were banished from 
Boston or Plymouth "on account of their dangerous and pernicious 
doctrine," so that when they came to dwell on the shores of Narra- 
gansett Bay they were all exiles for liberty's sake, standing on the 
same platform as to civil and religious matters. This is so im- 
portant a point in our story that it should be studied carefully by the 
light of Massachusetts and Rhode Island History. Only thus can 
we do equal justice to all. 

This was "The Lively Experiment" that was made by these 
brave men of faith — to prove that a State could be maintained in- 
dependent of the Church, and a Church could be maintained, inde- 
pendent of the State ; that neither should control the other, and that 
all men were born to be free and in civil and religious concerns to 
be equals. 

These men believed in this "lively experiment" before they left 
Old England for New England. They all brought the principle, 



25 



deep lodged in their hearts. They preached the doctrine in one form 
or another in Salem, in Boston and Plymouth. For it, most of them 
were exiled from Massachusetts and came to Rhode Island. 

The civil governments of Providence, Portsmouth, Newport and 
Warwick were founded on the doctrine of civil and religious lib- 
erty. All the laws, ordinances, customs and acts of the people of 
the four towns that constituted the colony of Rhode Island and Prov- 
idence Plantations were fashioned on the major voice of the people 
to give to every man in the colony "a full liberty in religious concern- 
ments" and in proof of that mutual and fundamental purpose, Jews, 
Quakers, Baptists, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Catholics, 
Atheists, came to the colony to find homes, protection, and the full- 
est enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. It cost money, exile, 
happiness, life, to stand for that doctrine in 1636, but today mil- 
lions in America and other millions in other lands believe it and live 
happily by it. 

The first clear-cut statement of the ordering of Civil Society in 
all matters relating to the public good was made at Providence under 
date of August 20, 1636 or 1637. Its historic value may be seen by 
its reading : 

"We whose names are hereunder, desirous to inhabit in the 
town of Providence, do promise to subject ourselves in active and 
passive obedience to all such orders or agreements as shall be made 
for public good of the body in an orderly w'ay, by the major consent 
of the present inhabitants, masters of families,— incorporated to- 
gether in a towne fellowship, and others whom they shall admit unto 
them only in civil things." The agreement was signed by Richard 
Scott, William Reynolds, Chad Browne, John Warner, John Field, 
George Rickard, Edward Cope, Thomas Angell, Thomas Harris, 
Francis Weekes, Benedict Arnold, Joshua Winsor and William 
Wickenden. 

This important paper is in the handwriting of Richard Scott, 



26 



and he is the first signer. Roger Williams' name does not appear 
in the list, and of the thirteen signers, not one of the thirteen orig- 
inal proprietors of the town of Providence appears. One would ex- 
pect to find the name of Roger Williams at the head of this great 
instrument of a "commonwealth absolutely divested of the theo- 
cratic principles," but it is not there. The paper declares that, in civil 
things, the present inhabitants of Providence subject themselves to 
the will of the majority of the people, leaving it to be clearly under- 
stood that in things spiritual, the people were absolutely free. And 
this great principle asserted by Richard Scott and twelve others, 
stands as the first declaration of the people of Providence on that 
subject. This w-as confirmed in 1640 as follows: "We agree as 
formerly hath ben the liberties of the town : to hold forth Lib- 
ertye of Conscience."' 

This "Combination" as it was called, was drawn up by Robert 
Coles, Chad Brown, William Harris and John Warner, and signed 
by thirty-eight persons, Mr. Williams being one. It is well known 
that serious troubles had arisen between Mr. Williams and the first 
comers, which threatened to break up the infant settlement, grow- 
ing out of the division of the lands. This subject so engrossed the 
minds of the planters of Providence, that freedom of conscience in 
spiritual matters was almost lost sight of in the struggle for house 
lots and outlands. It will be seen, however, that Richard Scott and 
his associates in the original compact, and that Cole, Browne, Har- 
ris and Warner did not forget to re-affirm "Libertye of Conscience" 
in the pact that was made as a treaty of peace. In both covenants, 
forty men at least declare their clear convictions on "Soul Liberty," 
by their signatures to the written word and thus place themselves 
abreast of other apostles of the doctrines. Richard Scott and Chad 
Browne and the Arnolds are worthy to stand in the front ranks at 
Providence at a time when Mr. Williams made no superior claims 
to leadership, in which as all know he was sadly deficient. 



27 



Turning from Providence to Portsmouth and Newport we find 
a company of choice spirits, who had been invited and still more 
urged to leave Boston "in order to avoide the censure of the Court." 
Among them are William Coddington, William and Anne Hutchin- 
son, John Coggeshall, Henry Bull and others. Leaving Boston, this 
band of men and women was welcomed to Pocasset now Portsmouth 
on the 24th of March 1637, by Canonicus, Sachem of the Narragan- 
sett and by Massasoit, Sachem of the Wampanoags, the latter 
promising "Loveinge and just carriage" of himself toward the new- 
comers. It is seldom that the compact of the Portsmouth colony is 
seen in print, and we give it publicity for the sake of illustrating the 
quality and principle of that distinguished body of people. 

"The 7TH day of the first month I638, we whose names 

ARE underwritten DO HERE SOLEMNLY IN THE PRESENCE OF JEHO- 
VAH, INCORPORATE OURSELVES INTO A BODIE POLITICK AND AS HE 
SHALL HELP,WILL SUBMIT OUR PERSONS, LIVES AND ESTATES UNTO 
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS AND 
TO ALL THOSE PERFECT AND MOST ABSOLUTE LAWES OF HIS GIVEN US 
IN HIS HOLY WORD OF TRUTH, TO BE GUIDED .XND JUDGED THEREBY." 

EXOD. 24c. 3, 4v. : 2 chron. 11c. 3v. : 2 kings 11c. 17v. 

This compact was signed by William Coddington, John Clarke, 
William Hutchinson Jr., John Coggeshall, William Aspinwall, Sam- 
uel Wilbour, John Porter, John Sanford, Edward Hutchinson, Jr., 
Esq., Thomas Savage, William Dyer, William Freeborn, Phillip 
Sherman, John Walker, Richard Carder, William Baulston, Edward 
Hutchinson Sen., Henry Bull, and Randall Holden. On the same 
day the record declares "We that are Freemen incorporate of this 
Bodie Politick do elect and constitute William Coddington, Esquire, 
a Judge amongst us, and so covenant to yield all due honor unto him 
according to the laws of God, and so far as in us lyes to maintaine 
the honour and privileges of his place which shall hereafter be satis- 
fyed according unto God, the Lord helping us so to do." 



28 



And on the same day, '"William Coddington, Esquire, being 
called and chosen by the Freemen Incorporate of this Bodie Polit- 
ick, to be a judge amongst them," did covenant '"to do justice and 
judgement according to the lawes of God, and to maintain The 
Fundamental Rights and Privileges of this Bodie Politick," etc., etc. 

Here was the establishment of a free government after the 
model of the Hebrew Commonwealth. Notice first that the people 
declare themselves to be an incorporated body of Freemen, a Free 
State. This free state is a Republic, all authority proceeding from 
the freemen and all officers are chosen by the Freemen. 

Still more the Governor, chosen by this incorporated body of 
freemen covenants "to maintain the Fundamental Rights and Privi- 
leges of this Bodie Politick, according to the laws of God." This 
new Commonwealth, founded at Portsmouth, R. I. March 7, 1638, 
embodies in its brief but comprehensive Declaration of Principles all 
the elements of Civil and Religious Liberty, as expounded by the 
most ardent advocates of Soul Liberty, The only Sovereignty that is 
recognized is the "King of Kings and the Lord of Lords." Under 
Him the state is organized and the citizens assume the title of "Free- 
men," with "Fundamental Rights and Privileges." 

What were these rights and privileges ? Let us see. Doctor John 
Clarke's name stands second on the list of incorjjorators. He was a 
Baptist and a thorough student or, believer in, and advocate of Soul 
Liberty. He was banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony for his 
liberal belief and being a friend of Roger Williams, came to Provi- 
dence, consulted with Mr. Williams as to the location of a new town, 
and by Mr. Williams' aid was led to purchase the Island of Rhode 
Island, joining hands with Coddington and others in the settlement at 
Portsmouth. John Clarke was both physician and clergyman, a born 
class leader and diplomat. He must have written the Portsmouth 
Declaration. No one of that company was so well qualified as he. No 
one was more thoroughly inspired with the principle of civil and 



29 



spiritual freedom of the individual. That h.e had the courage to 
stand by his convictions was made very manifest a few years later, 
when he was arrested in Boston for preaching, was cast into prison in 
that town under sentence of paying a fine of i20, or else be whipped 
and stay in jail, till the fine was paid. He refused to pay the fine and 
was kept in jail for more than a month, being freed by the payment 
of the cruel fine by his friends. 

The Portsmouth document contains the elements of Dr. Clarke's 
utterances, clearness, earnestness and conviction. Into that word 
FREEMEN, was put all the meaning that it possessed in 1663. 
His own letters to King Charles, the Second, while Agent of 
the Colony of Rhode Island to obtain a new charter, are a perfect 
commentary on its significance to him and to his associates in the 
settlement of Portsmouth and Newport, In a letter to Charles 
written in 1662, he says, "Your petitioners were necessitated long 
since for cause of conscience, with respect to the worship and ser- 
vices of God to take up a resolution to quit their deare and native 
country, and all their near and precious relations and enjoyments 
therein and to expose themselves and their families to all the hazards 
and inconveniences which they might meet with upon the vast and 
swelling ocean over which they should pass, or in the barbarous and 
howling wilderness to which they might come." Arriving in 
America, Dr. Clarke describes their labors in finding a place for 
habitation, "among the barbarians, in places untrod," "where ac- 
cording to what was propounded in your petitioners first adventure, 
they might with freedom of conscience worship the Lord, their 
God, as they were persuaded." 

Dr. Clarke further writes in the same letter: "Your petition- 
ers purchased and planted those parts of the world in all 
desirable freedom and liberty in all respects. Therefore we 
humbly crave that we may not only be sheltered, but caused to 
flourish in our civill and religious concernment in these remote parts 



30 



of new world. So shall your servants take themselves greatly ob- 
liged while they are quietly permitted wath freedom of consciences 
to worship the Lord their God." 

In a second address the same year, 1662, to King Charles, he 
repeats and emphasizes the position of this his first letter, and says, 
"Your petitioners have it much on their hearts (if they mav be per- 
mitted) to hold forth a lively experiment, that a flourishing civil 
state may stand, yea, and best be maintained and that among English 
spirits with a full liberty in religious concernments, and that true 
piety rightly grounded upon gospel principles will give the best and 
greatest security to true Sovereignty, and will lay in the hearts of 
men the strongest obligations of truer loyalty." JNIore could be 
quoted from these two remarkable letters, found in full in the first 
volume of the Rhode Island Colonial records, pages 485 to 492. 
In these letters, Dr. Clarke declares that the principles of civil and 
religious liberty possessed and animated the settlers of Rhode 
Island soil before they left England. He refers over and over 
again to the trials and hardships this body of people suffered and 
endured for the possibility of enjoying their "fundementall rights," 
in a new land. He makes no reference to any one Apostle of re- 
ligious freedom, but honestly claims that honor for all. "We," 
not "I," nor "He" is the word, Dr. Clarke constantly uses relative 
to the men who, for twenty-five years, have with him borne the 
travails of citizens of a new Christian Commonwealth. His mod- 
esty will not allow him to count himself other than one of the saints, 
although his utterances entitle him to rank as the Chief. While he 
was penning these immortal sentiments, he was receiving letters 
from William Brenton, Benedict Arnold, William Dyer and Jos- 
eph L. Torrey of Newport, from John Sanford, Robert Hazard 
and ^^'illiam Baulston of Portsmouth, from John Greene, Samuel 
Gorton. Randall Holden and John Smith of Warwick, and from 
William Field, Thomas Olney, Arthur Fenner, William Harris, 



31 



William Carpenter and Stephen Olney of Providence. Of all 
those who supported Dr. Clarke at London either in money or per- 
sonal service, the name of Roger Williams does not appear, and 
when, on November 24, 1663, The Royal Charter of Rhode Island 
was opened and read "at a very great meeting and assembly of the 
three men of the colony of Providence Plantations," before the 
General Court of Commissioners held at Newport, Benedict Ar- 
nold of Newport presiding, Mr.Williams was not of the commission- 
ers for Providence nor is there any evidence that he was present to 
share in the honors and rejoicings of that remarkable occasion. 

Had Mr. Williams been present he would have heard for the first 
time those immortal words graven in marble on the facade of the 
State House on Capitol Hill first penned by John Clarke, M. D. of 
Newport. 



32 



*' And ^whereas,fn their humble ad- 
dress they have freely declared that it 
is much on their hearts (if they may be 
permitted) to hold forth a lively exper- 
ment, that a most flourishing civil state 
may stand and best be maintained and 
that among our English subjects with a 
full liberty in religious concernments; 
and that true piety rightly grounded 
upon Gospel principles will give the 
best security to sovereignty, and will 
lay in the hearts of men the strongest 
obligations to true loyalty/' 



33 



Of the founders of the town of Warwick, it may be said that 
all from the least to the greatest were soul liberty lovers and seek- 
ers. John Greene, Randall Holden, John Wilkes, Samuel Gorton 
and others had learned the lesson from English teachers on English 
soil and came to America to practice the teachings there received. 
Of the Warwick Plantations, Samuel Gorton was the richest, the 
strongest, the ablest man. Gorton's religious training was re- 
ceived in the English Church. In an address to Charles the second, 
he says, "I drew my tenets from the breast of my mother, the 
Church of England." Gorton was an educated man, a scholar and 
an intellectual athlete. Born in the year 1592, he was forty-four 
years old when he landed with his wife, Mary Marplet and a family 
of children in 1637. "He yearned," he writes, "for a country where 
he could be free to w^orship God, according to what the Bible taught 
him, as God enabled him to understand it." Mackie in his life of 
Gorton says, "He was one of the noble spirits who esteemed liberty 
more than life, and counting no sacrifice too great for the mainte- 
nance of principle, could not dwell with ease in a land where the 
inalienable rights of humanity were not acknowledged or were 
mocked at. With all its industrial pros[)erity, its pleasing attractions 
to the eye of sense, its proud public annals, and its dear private 
memories, England could not detain him from venturing upon the 
then dread Atlantic, and seeking out a spot among the self-denying 
settlers of a barren coast and a savage wilderness where in thought, 
deed, and word and act he might be free." 

"I left my native country," he says, "to enjoy liberty of con- 
science in respect to faith toward God and for no other end." 

In this brief reference to Samuel Gorton, my sole purpose 
is to show that this was a soul-liberty man long before coming to 
New England, and long before he made the acquaintance of Clarke, 
Coddington and Williams. Dr. James calls Gorton, "this for- 
gotten founder of our liberties." Mackie, his biographer, says, 



34 



"after the venerable founder of Providence, no man was more in- 
strumental in establishing the foundation of equal civil rights and 
soul liberty in Rhode Island than Samuel Gorton." Chief Justice 
Durfee of Rhode Island, in an address before the R. I. Historical 
Society, says, "He was a great lover of soul-liberty and hater of 
shams." 

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. There were 
many apostles of soul-liberty from the days of Jesus, the Christ, 
who, in the story of the denarius and the aphorism, "Render unto 
Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that 
are God's," became the founder of soul liberty and the separator of 
Church and State. All the ages from Jesus to the 17th century 
were made alive by the defenders of personal freedom. The 
English Exodus to New England sent shiploads of men who stood 
four-square on the foundations of civil and religious freedom. 
Among these were the great body of settlers of Rhode Island, in- 
dividualists, separatists, liberals, men who knew and maintained their 
rights at great cost. Shall we name them? A volume would not 
contain their names and deeds. Of this small army, there were 
leaders, each differing from the other in some mental or soul quality. 
Newport had its Coddington, Hutchinson and Arnold ; Warwick its 
Greene, Gorton and Holden ; Providence its Williams, Brown, 
Harris and others. Who shall weigh and measure the values of 
each of these men and their deeds? A task too hard for men! 
Heaven's weights and measures alone are fitted for such a valua- 
tion. Dryden sings. 



"Three poets, in three distant ages born, 
Greece, Italy and England did adorn ; 
The first in loftiness of thought surpassed, 
The next in majesty, in both the last. 



35 



The force of nature could no longer go, 
To make a third she joined the former two." 



Our Trinity of Rhode Island's early statesmen includes Roger 
Williams, Samuel Gorton, John Clarke — each greatest in his sphere 
of thought and influence. 

Three statesmen claim a place in Rhody's Hall of Fame : 



The first as Great Heart; let that be his name; 
The next as Great Thought — this his title sure ; 
For Clarke both names may stand and long endure. 



"The Lively Experiment" in America was wrought through 
them as leaders. 



Rhode Island Initiative 

AN ADDRESS BY 

REV. EDWARD HOLYOKE 



Mr. President : Permit me through your courtesy to congrat- 
ulate the members of the Rhode Island Citizens Historical Society 
upon their splendid initiative in bringing the event we celebrate into 
its proper setting of public appreciation. While the act we com- 
memorate is of peculiar significance to every loyal Rhode Islander, 
the principle which gave it birth is of profound and universal in- 
terest. To this truth you have given natural expression in the cos- 
mopolitan representation on the program and platform of today. 
Fully conscious of the world-wide significance of the day we cele- 
brate, I accept with peculiar pleasure the opportunity of reminding 
the public through you that the day and its event were made possible 
only by the high-souled and heroic passion for liberty of two Baptist 
ministers and their associates, namely John Clarke of Newport and 
Roger Williams of Providence. Out of the springs of soul liberty 
flowed the stream of civil freedom, and the declaration of liberty of 
conscience was the natural antecedent of the proclamation of the 
rights of man to political independency. 

The heroic men who struck that blow for civil liberty struck 
not for themselves alone nor for us, but for humanity, and they 
made the place on which we stand sacred ground to us and all 
the world. In vain we try to honor them with our poor tribute of 
words. Indeed "the world will not remember long what we say 



37 



here, but it can never forget what they did here." Every struggle 
for freedom is helped, every effort toward despotism or tyranny is 
hindered, by their heroic decision. No exile suft'ering in Siberia, no 
slave crouching on the Congo, no tyrant on the Bosphorus, no theo- 
rist of the divine right of kings, but feels the thrill their impulse 
gave to freedom. 

"For mankind are one in spirit, and an instinct bears along, 
Round the earth's electric circle, the swift flash of right or wrong; 
Whether conscious or unconscious, Humanity's vast frame 
Through its ocean-sundered fibres feels the gush of joy or shame ; — 
In the gain or loss of one race all the rest have equal claim." 

Analysing the meaning of this day, we are interested first be- 
cause it furnishes a splendid illustration of initiative. "My first," 
cries the school-boy, released for his game, and "the child is father 
to the man." In the cause of freedom and independence Little 
Rhody cried "first,'' and after her the nation and the world are fol- 
lowing. As early as 1732-3, Rhode Island, in official protest against 
the sugar act, denied the right of Parliament to tax the colony, and 
first formally proclaimed the principle, "No taxation without repre- 
sentation." In the Stamp Act resolution, Rhode Island was the first 
and only colony to direct her officers to defy the power of Great 
Britain, and to insure their idemnity for doing so: first to brave 
royalty in arms by sinking the sloop Liberty in 1769, and by cap- 
turing and burning the schooner Gaspee in 1772: first to urge a 
congress of colonies and the establishment of a permanent union, 
and promptly elected Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward as her 
representatives in the Continental Congress in 1774: first to build 
a navy of her own, which, under Commodore Whipple, fired the 
first cannon on the high seas in defence of American liberty; first 
to recommend to Congress the establishment of a Continental navy, 
and gave it the first Commander-in-Chief, Esek Hopkins: first to 



3h 



substitute the Governor's name and seal on all public documents and 
openly proclaim sovereign independence of Great Britain : first to 
establish a foundation of full liberty in civil and religious affairs, 
and thus "to hold forth a lively experiment that a most flourishing 
civil state may stand and best be maintained with full liberty in re- 
ligious concernments." Such an example of intrepid initiative have 
our fathers bequeathed us as incentive to present-day progress. 

The audacity of the deed compels our admiration. Rhode Is- 
land had been among the most conservative and loyal of the colon- 
ies; under the oppression of the Tax and Stamp Acts she became 
the most completely alienated and radical in her independence. Re- 
versing their own former policy, our fathers went before their 
brethren, and though least of all, the Benjamin of the tribes became 
the pioneer of freedom. Alone, they gave notice of a rebellion 
against a monarchy which might crush them at will. Whence this 
courageous temper, enabling them unaided to advance their cause, 
as it were, against the world ? From one source only could it be de- 
rived; — it was the property of men who had inherited from the 
founders of the colony those priceless and inalienable principles of 
soul liberty and the civil rights of man. The tree of Liberty politi- 
cal had its roots in the soil of a state builded on the fovmdation of 
full liberty in religious affairs. The "lively experiment" had al- 
ready passed the experimental stage, and was reaping the advant- 
ages of practical demonstration. The noblest of all initiatives had 
been taken in the establishment of a state upon the foundation of 
principles which were still being fought out in the old world and 
were nowhere else fully acknowledged in the new. And these men 
and their successors remained absolutely true to the standard set 
When in 1656, the Colonies urged sanguinary edicts against the 
Quakers, and threatened to withdraw all commercial intercourse 
unless Rhode Island joined in the persecution, this w^as their an- 
swer: "We shall strictly adhere to the foundation principles on 



39 



which this colony was settled, to wit; that every man who submits 
peaceably to civil government in this colony shall worship God ac- 
cording to the dictates of his own conscience, without molestation." 
To this position the state has been loyal, in politics, education, and 
religion, and has made the most notable contribution yet rendered 
to civic and moral progress. We would not fail to honor duly 
every name identified with this struggle for liberty in America. 
Among the leaders we would place, with Straus, the successful ad- 
vocate of the separation of church from state in Virginia, and the 
preservation of religious liberty by the constitution, Thomas Jef- 
ferson ; next above Jefferson the pure, high-minded friend of lib- 
erty within limitations, William Penn; above Penn we will place 
Lord Baltimore, the advocate of the rights of all Christians; and 
high over all we will v.rite the name of that peerless pioneer of re- 
ligious and civil liberty,— the bigh-souled, keen-sighted, heroic 
champion of absolute liberty for all men, Roger Williams. 

We are interested in this event as a substantial demonstration 
of Democracy. Under the leadership of Jonathan Arnold, the As- 
sembly gathered here gave one more notice to the world that democ- 
racy was not to be the failure that its friends had feared, its enemies 
had hoped, and prophets had predicted. We are a little more than 
usual in need just now of the tonic of their example. It has be- 
come a fad in some quarters to decry democracy as but a partial 
success at best, or even to lament it as more or less of a failure. M^e 
were told within the week that democracy was dense, conservative 
and untrustworthy, and nothing could save it but the finest ideals, 
accepted and applied. Ah, but we have the ideals! France, in her 
revolution, shut her gates to the past, and undertook the slow task 
of initiating new ideals. But America, free-born, need never, can 
never turn her back upon the glorious heritage of ideals, civil and re- 
ligious, which inspire her. Once fuse the mass of heterogeneous 
material of our citizenship in the "melting-pot" of a common na- 



40 



tional ideal of liberty, and you have largely determined the type of 
American citizenship and the destiny of our Republic. 

We are interested because we have here the materials for fos- 
tering true patriotism. The adopted citizen is invited to be glad with 
us in the ample harbors of Narragansett Bay; in our city, beautiful 
for situation; our manufactures, leading the world in their class; 
our wealth, the greatest per capita in the union; our public build- 
ings, crowned by a state house, successor to this of historic fame, 
noteworthy as a graftless model of art and public spirit ; our great 
characters, Williams, Clarke, Hopkins, Berkeley, Channing, Arnold, 
Stuart, Wayland, Andrews and a host ; — but more than all, to revel 
in the assurance that in this commonwealth the most sacred rights 
of man have ever been, and by God's grace are evermore to be, pre- 
served inviolate. 

Finally, we are interested in the incentives furnished to further 
progress. The noblest tribute we can render the fathers is to follow 
the splendid example of their initiative. The past is secure, its 
glory must abide ; the future is ours, to make it what we will. They 
liad tlldl' problems and solved them, on the whole, wondrously well. 
\Ve have ours, none the less intricate, significant, and insistent, and 
they must be met with equal devotion. How shall we rise equal to 
the task? 

First, by following the fathers wherein they were right, and 
next, by parting from them wherein they were wrong. No progress 
is possible to him who walks in dead men's shoes. No dead hand 
out of a past, howsoever revered, should be raised to grip and 
strangle the throat of progress today. With all deference to the 
fathers, we should not let our admiration of their virtues blind us 
to their faults, nor the lure of their successes lead us into irreparable 
error. It is possible that cherishing the ideals of the past may have 
involved us in a hopeless conservatism, if in our fealty to their vi- 
sion we see no farther than thev into the needs of our own dav. 



41 



They were, for instance, pronounced Separatists, and we should not 
forget that if the delegates from Rhode Island had been present or 
active in the Congress at a critical period, their separatism would 
probably have secured the introduction into the constitution of the 
United States of a state's rights clause, with perilous prejudice to 
the perpetuity of the Union. The call of the hour is to collectivism 
and thereby is committed to us the difficult task of correcting the 
conditions into which we have fallen as the heirs of separatism. In- 
stead of undertaking this task in the interest of progressive democ- 
racy, our political leaders often entrench themselves behind the 
barricade of the conservatism of their inheritance, and gravely as- 
sure us that the present conditions are due to time honored convic- 
tions and policies of the fathers, which are the glory of our his- 
tory, and which it were sacrilege to question and treachery to change. 
But if the virtues of yesterday become the vices of today, shall they 
be immune? If the withdrawal of men and towns in the spirit of 
independence and the manipulation of small boroughs in the interest 
of corruption destro} the integrity of the state and defeat the will 
of the people, must they be left undisturbed? If the present in- 
equality in the distribution of power results in rank injustice to cer- 
tain urban communities, shall suburban and rural legislators set 
themselves to perpetuate the inequality until it develop from in- 
iquity to iniquity? A part of this difficult but necessary task of re- 
distribution is assigned to the August session of the legislature, and 
w^e must be patient as to results. But we and our representatives 
need to be conscious that 

"New occasions teach new duties ; 

Time makes ancient good uncouth ; 
They must upvvard still and onward, 

Who would keep abreast of truth ; 
Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires ! 



42 



We ourselves must pilgrims be, 
Launch our AIa\flower and steer boldly 

Through the desperate winter sea, 
Nor attempt the Future's portal 

With the Past's blood-rusted key." 

If we are true to the spirit of our fathers, the present social 
problem wall find us ready to progress so far as we may toward an 
industrial democracy. Is it too much to expect that in this land of 
liberty, church and state, labor and capital, socialist and individ- 
ualist, shall walk together in fraternal endeavor to secure a more 
equitable distribution of earnings? "If we can go ten steps with the 
socialist." says Mr. Roosevelt, "let us take those ten steps and then 
fight, rather than fight him all the way." 

We are a cosmopolitan people, of diverse convictions and vary- 
ing habits. The most enthusiastic reformer must concede that here 
the will of the majority is the ultimate law. Within these limits it 
may be said that no thinking man believes for a moment that the 
open saloon in American politics and American home-life is the 
final solution of our drink problem. 

For the determination of the evils of drunkenness, for the 
equalization of political rights, for the equitable distribution of the 
products of labor, for the settlement of a hundred problems of our 
complex modern life, we have need of men no less far-sighted than 
Williams, no less tactful than Clarke, no less patriotic than Arnold. 
Great achievements have not all passed into history. A still more 
glorious future summons to its tasks the finest talents and the noblest 
souls. Confident that the spirit of the fathers, memorialized this 
day, will find yet fuller and finer expression in the better humanity 
of tomorrow, 



43 



"We turn from memory today 
To the fresh tasks, splendid heroic toil, 

Triumphs of knowledge and beneficence, 
And victories unblemished by regret ; 

With the untroubled confidence of strength 
We go to build the commonwealth of peace." 



The Women of the Revolution 



AN ADDRESS BY 



MRS. ELLEN RYAN JOLLY 



God said unto Moses, "Draw not nigh hither; put thy shoes 
from off thy feet ; for the place whereon thou standest is hoiy 
ground." — Well may we receive this injunction today as Moses re- 
ceived it, of old on Mount Horeb — "put off* thy shoes from oft" they 
feet for tins is holy ground" — Holy, indeed, by the memories which 
hover around these hallowed walls — memories of that glorious day 
when Rhode Island severed forever the cruel shackles which bound 
her a slave to British despotism, and bidding defiance to the inhuman 
George III., declared herself free and independent — free to prosper 
and advance and absolutely independent of the tyranny of Kings. 
This, Rhode Island's Independence Hall, is doubly dear, from the 
fact, that, beneath this very roof — beside the same fireside, and with 
God's blessed sunlight shining in through these same windows, 
two months before the National Declaration of Independence was 
signed and proclaimed in Philadelphia, on May 4th, the patriots of 
Rhode Island declared their independence; and in the words of 
Walter E. Ranger, State Commissioner of Public Schools, "Made 
this little State the oldest sovereign government of the people in our 
great republic." 

The poet has truly said : — 

"A nation's greatness lies in men, not acres : One master mind 
is worth a million hands." 



45 



With faithful hearts we offer revered tribute to Nicholas 
Cooke, and his associates, who assembled in this hall 134 years ago 
today and bearding the British lion in his den, voted to have "liberty 
or death." And here let us express the hope, that, the State of Rhode 
Island may soon do tardy justice to the memory of these patriots, 
"who dared to do" — and that a magnificent monument shall be 
erected to their honor, on which shall be carved in letters of the 
purest gold, the names of these true heroes, whose example shall be 
a beacon light, to generations yet unborn. Commemorating their 
deeds, we can almost feel their sacred presence near us, believing that 
the God of Nations would sanction their visit to the scenes of their 
struggles and triumphs and allow them to witness with the eyes of 
the soul, this gathering' of men and women assembled, to do honor 
to the principles they declared beneath these same rafters, and to 
bear witness to our pledges of allegiance, to the Star Spangled 
Banner — God bless its every star and broad stripe : — and may it con- 
tinue to wave in freedom, over the hallowed graves of our beloved, 
patriotic dead — scattered, as they are, over the hillsides, glens, and 
plains of this fair land they loved so passionately. 

The Rhode Island Declaration kindled a fire in the hearts of 
men, which was not quenched, until Great Britain, herself, ac- 
knowledged her defeat on the day when the proud Cornwallis sur- 
rendered his sword, to our beloved Washington at Yorktown. 

Yes ! Rhode Island's Sons led the van and gave the daring ex- 
ample, wdiich ended in total separation from England, the land which 
more than 150 years before, had sent the Pilgrim Fathers across the 
trackless ocean, in search of religious liberty. Daring, indeed, was 
the act of Rhode Island's liberty-loving Sons — as defeat meant death 
for treason, the sentence for which under George III. was that the 
victim should be hanged, drawn and quartered* and the members of 
the body scattered to the four winds ; the blood of the traitor, to the 
English Crown, to be food for the dogs of the street, and his 



46 



head to be placed on a pike, by the roadside, as a warning to others, 
who dared to dream of freedom. 

Rhode Island's Sons were manly men, and in paying our 
homage to them on this day of days, let us not forget the mothers 
who bore them. One of the world's greatest philosophers has said : 
"Show me a great man and I will show you a great mother." The 
martyred President Lincoln said repeatedly: "All that I am now, or 
hope to be, I owe to the influence of my Angel Mother.*' A 
knowledge of the heroism of the Revolutionary women seems to have 
unfortunately for us, passed, with the generation which witnessed 
it. This is unfair. This is not gratitude — it is also Un-American. 
The ancient writers have preserved for all time in classic verse, the 
story of the brave women of Sparta and Rome. Shall we Ameri- 
cans do less? We must not forget the patriotism of our great 
women, and today, in this historic hall, let us entwine a halo of 
laurel, rosemary, and immortelle, and with reverence and love, 
place it upon the altar of our affections, to the memory of the sisters, 
wives, and mothers of America's valiant Sons. God alone knew the 
sacrifice the Mother made in "those days which tried men's souls in 
giving her first-born son to almost certain death." 

There is no love like the Mother love and even this wondrous 
affection is increased a thousand fold, in her love for her first-born 
son. — "Bone of her bone, and flesh of her flesh." How tenderly the 
mother folds her first born son to her heart of hearts ; how carefully 
and fondly she trains his first steps, and how proudly she sees him 
develop into splendid manhood. And all this time the mother is 
building castles for her brave boy, her handsome lad. How earnest- 
ly she prays, that the Great God may keep her son in His holy care, 
free from sin or shame. In the midst of this happiness, in the midst 
of this day dream, she hears the echo of the shot fired at Lexington 
and realizes that the hour has arrived, when mother and son must 
part never to meet again, never, perhaps, until reunited, before the 



47 



great white throne, where partings are no more. Did the mother 
hesitate? Read the history of their hves for the reply. No! a 
thousand times no ! Their motto was "malo mori quam foedari : — 
Death before dishonor." The daughter was not outdone in generos- 
ity and many a proud and fond sister gave up an only brother, the 
playmate of her childhood, her pride and her hope — only, perhaps, 
to learn later, that this idolized brother had filled an unknown grave 
in a distant colony. 

The patriot's wife, fully worthy of that holy name, gave the 
parting hand to a husband, who was dearer to her than life, and saw 
him go forth to the battlefield, where death was almost certain to be 
his portion. Later, the sad intelligence came to many a thousand 
homes, that, the husband so dearly loved was dead. What wonder is 
it, that, in many cases the burden was too heavy for the weary spirit, 
and that the widow's broken heart, found rest and reunion, with the 
loved and lost, in an early grave. 

The following graceful eulogy to the women of 1776, with a 
heart throb in every line may be found in the History of Barrington, 
written by the Honored President of our Association, The Hon. 
Thomas Williams Bicknell. "There was not a day when the women 
were not in service in one form or another. In several instances it is 
related, that the wool which was on the sheeps' backs in the morning, 
was finished garments on the backs of Revolutionary Soldiers before 
bedtime. The patriotic women worked the farms and many a heart- 
sore mother, carried her baby to the field, cradled it in the boughs 
of a tree, while she tilled the soil which was to produce food for the 
fatherless flock. Such were the noble mothers of the Revolution 
and worthier women never drew breath than these great souls, who 
not only stood the brunt of the home struggle, but they made it pos- 
sible for their husbands and sons, to fight the battle and cheered 
their return to duty, that a glorious and noble America might be 
freed from the tyrants' yoke of oppression, and that they, and their 



48 



children, and their children's children, might enjoy the priceless treas- 
ure, freedom. Women of this royal stamp were not made to sit at tlie 
feet of tyrants, and they, like the Roman mothers, gave the com- 
mand to their best beloved : "Bring back your shield, or be brought 
back upon it." These are the women vvhose sacred memory we 
venerate today. Women who have left to the world a priceless 
lesson in self sacrifice, devotion to God and Country. Women who 
dared all, suffered all and offered all, upon the Altar of their country, 
that this fair land "Might take its place among the nations of the 
earth — great, glorious and free." In the struggle for Nationhood, 
in the battle against unjust taxation, the women showed a practical 
patriotism, in their observance of the non-importation Acts and 
would not wear apparel of British make. The first ladies in the 
land, who objected to taxation without representation, (women who 
had been accustomed to wear the finest silks, velvets, laces and 
jewels), discarded these luxuries cheerfully, and putting aside harps 
and harpsichords, took the spinning wheel, the lace bobbin, and mat, 
and knitting needle. They pledged themselves to wear only home- 
made fabrics and were, if possible more charming than ever, in their 
plain gowns of linsey-woolsey, the threads for which were carded, 
spun and woven by their own fair hands, at their colonial firesides. 
The question of the English exactions was the burning topic in 
every household, it was served at breakfast, smoking hot for dinner 
and there was no ice upon it when the time came for supper. It 
was the women who refused to wear the clothing that would be 
taxed, it was the women who made the Spartan sacrifice of their tea 
and if the men had not made that memorable party in Boston 
Harbor, on the 16th of December, 1773, assuredly the women would 
have been to the fore. Yes, the women obeyed the letter and spirit 
of the law and to aid the patriots, many a chest was relieved of its 
prized linens, which they converted into garments for the suffering 
soldiers. Their pewter dishes, treasured family heirlooms, were 



40 



melted and made into bullets and they carried them into the camps to 
the "Men along the thin blue line, in the thickest of the fight." 
Blessed be the memory of these grand women of those sad days, 
women like Martha Washington, wife of the immortal Commander- 
in-Chief, George Washington, and our own Kate Littlefield, wife of 
Rhode Island's pride. General Nathaniel Greene, and many other 
brave women who spent that fearful winter among the suffering 
soldiers at Valley Forge, in that darkest hour of the Revolution, each 
bravely taking her share of the hardships of the camp, at a time, 
when the soldiers were half starved, half clad, sick and dying, and 
almost totally discouraged. These ministering angels of mercy, 
carried consolation into the soldiers' rude huts and many a sinking 
heart found renewed courage, in the burning words of patriotism, 
uttered by tenderly nurtured women, who forgot self, in their devo- 
tion to the cause, and to the patriots, who were ready to die, that 
those near and dear to them might breathe God's free air, under a 
flag of their own. It is interesting- to note, that, while the Sons 
of Liberty were doing heroic deeds, in the colonies, that Rhode 
Island's fair daughters organized the first Sister Society known as 
"Daughters of Liberty" and many of their descendants belong to the 
"Daughters of the American Revolution." A roll call of the old 
Rhode Island families, would be a roll call of the Revolutionary 
dames, who sustained a loyal part in the conflict. They resolved, 
not to purchase British manufactures, unless the Stamp Act should 
be repealed. In fancy, we can see these good and great women, 
flinging their canisters and caddies of tea, upon the great bonfire of 
tea, in Market Square, — a burning commemorated by a bronze 
tablet in in the Board of Trade Building, Market Square, this city, 
by a tablet which was unveiled with elaborate ceremony, in 1894, by 
Mary A. Greene, a representative of the family which gave to the 
cause, General Greene. 

My dear friends, in the history of Revolutionary, or Pre-Revo- 



50 



lutionary days, we almost look in vain for any reference, to the 
Non-importation resolutions, adopted by the Merchants of Philadel- 
phia, on Oct. 25th, 1765 — ten years before the battle of Lexington 
was fought: a resolution to which I now refer with justifiable, 
racial pride and which is commemorated by a mural tablet of bronze, 
occupying a particular position of honor in Independence Hall, 
Philadelphia, with an inscription, in part as follows : — 

"In hopes their example will stimulate the good people of this 
Province to be frugal in their use and consumption of all manufac- 
tures, excepting those of America and lawful goods coming directly 
from Ireland and manufactured there. Signed this day, Oct. 25, 
1765." This act was a public, a grateful, and immortal acknowl- 
edgement of Ireland's generous and practical support, to the cause of 
America's independence. 

God bless dear old Ireland for that loyalty! Ireland, the land 
of my exiled people, which true to the traditions of a royal, a 
wronged, and persecuted race, did not forget America in its hour of 
distress. Yes, thank God, Ireland's Sons responded nobly ; and his- 
tory proves, that every battlefield, from Lexington to Yorktown. is 
saturated with Irish blood and billowed with the graves of Irish 
Soldiers. 

Long, as Homer's catalogue of the ships, is the list one might 
give — of America's patriot women — if time permitted. 

We might dwell upon the literary ability of Mercy Warren, the 
courage of Abigail Adams, wife of one President and mother of 
another. We would tell in detail of the martial bravery of Moll 
Pitcher, who saved the day at the battle of Monmouth by manning 
the gun, as her husband, the gunner, fell dead at her feet, by the 
shot from a British cannon. 

A really noble letter sent by an unmarried woman, to a British 
officer in Philadelphia, reads as follows: "I will tell you what I 
have done, my only brother, I have sent to the Camp with my pray- 



51 



ers and blessings, and had I twenty brothers and sons they should 
go — I have retracted every superfluous expense in my table and 
family. Tea I have not tasted since last Xmas, not bought a new 
Cap or Gown since your defeat at Lexington, and, what I never 
did before, have learned to knit, and am now making stockings of 
American wool for American soldiers — I know this — that as free, 
I can die but once ; but as a slave, I shall not be worthy of life." 
These are sentiments of all my American Sisters. 
"You may destroy all the men in America," an officer in 
Charleston told Lord Cornwallis, "and we will still have enough to 
do to defeat the American Women." 

The annals of the day tell us of a Connecticut widow, who 
sent her five sons and eleven grandsons to the war, and asking God 
to bless her sixteen children — made the sacrifice. 'T had rather," 
she said, "that they had all been killed, than that one of my blood 
came back a Coward." These are only a few of the deeds, written 
by the recording angel, upon the books of fame. 

We call upon you, young mothers, by that which never fails 
in women — the love of your children : teach them, as they climb 
your knees, or lean upon your hearts, the blessings of liberty. 
Teach them at the Altar, with their baptismal vows, to be true to 
their God, and their country and our American future will be secure 
in their hands. 

I call upon you, old men, for your counsels and your prayers 
whose inheritance you possess, and to be true to that heritage. 

I call upon you, old men, for your counsels and your prayers 
and your benedictions. 

The time of our departure is not far distant, and our children 
must continue our work — May God speed them and theirs ! May 
he, who, at the distance of many years, shall stand here to celebrate 
this day, still look round upon a free, happy and virtuous people! 
May he have reason to exult as we do! May he, with all the en- 



52 



thusiasm of truth, as well as of poetry, exclaim, that here is still his 
Country ! Zealous, yet modest ; innocent, though free. 

Let us be true to the best traditions of this glorious Country — 
where we enjoy in the broadest sense civil and religious liberty: a 
''Government of the people, by the people, and for the people." 

Let the purity of our women's lives show to the world, that, 
in America the honor of the home is sacred, that the home is the 
nucleus of the Nation ; and that She who makes the home, a temple 
of beauty and love, patriotism and piety, is worthy of high honor 
and is indeed the true ]\Iother of America. God bless its National 
emblem — our glorious, 

"Star Spangled Banner, and long may it wave, 
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave." 



53 

NICHOLAS COOKE. 

Nov. 1775—1778- 

Leading Events of His Administration. 

Nov. 5, 1775. — Esek Hopkins, Commodore of American Navy. 

Nov. 7, 1775. — Gov. Joseph Wanton formally deposed. 

Apr. 5, 1776. — Gen. Washington visits Providence. 

May 4, 1776. — Rhode Island declares her independence. 

July 18, 1776. — The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen 

Colonies endorsed by the General Assembly. 
Dec. 8, 1776. — The British Army takes possession of Newport. 
Jan. 9, 1777. — Colonel W. Barton captures Gen. Prescott. 
Feb. 9, 1778. — A regiment of negro slaves ordered to be raised. 
Feb. 9, 1778. — Articles of Confederation between the thirteen 

original States adopted. 

NICHOLAS COOKE. 

Nicholas Cooke, son of Daniel and Mary Power Cooke, was 
born in Providence, Feb. 3, 1717. In early life he followed the 
sea and became a successful master of ships. Later he entered mer- 
cantile life and sold the goods his ships brought to the Providence 
market. He acquired a handsome fortune for that day and invested 
his gains in land in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. 
He also carried on rope-walking and distilling, winning in all his 
varied affairs money and a good name. He married, Sept. 23, 
1740, Hannah, daughter of Hezekiah Sabin, and was the father of 
twelve children. His 9th child, Jesse, was the father of Joseph S. 
who was the father of nine children, from whom Hon. Geo. L. 
Cooke of Providence, is descended. 

The home of Governor Cooke was the center of the independ- 
ence elements of the Colony. Governor Wanton had reached 



i)4 



years of cautious conservatism, and while jealous for the rights of 
the Colony, he trusted that Great Britain would withdraw her ob- 
noxious laws and would cease to harass the colonies, while the in- 
fluence of the wealth and culture around him undoubtedly en- 
couraged him in this position. Although he had been Governor 
for six years he does not seem to have kept step w'ith the advancing 
cause of liberty. 

He was the Edward Everett of his day, wdio could not under- 
stand the deep meaning of the events of his time, nor the portents 
of evil that hung over his horizon. If he understood, then his con- 
duct can only be attributed to weakness or conservatism, qualities 
never before credited to the Wanton family. 

\Vhatever the facts on the side of Governor Wanton, the people 
of the Colony were now under the leadership of Samuel Ward and 
Stephen Hopkins, and were not to be trifled with. The nineteenth 
of April at Lexington and Concord had shattered all hopes of peace, 
and the war for American independence had actually begun. The 
prediction of Patrick Henry had been fulfilled, "the next gale that 
sweeps from the North may bring to our ears the clash of resound- 
ing arms." Following the events of April, 1775, liberty or death 
were the only alternatives. Lieutenant-Governor Darius Sessions, 
the double-minded, half-hearted patriot, was defeated at the April 
election, and a successful merchant, Nicholas Cooke, of Providence, 
had been elected to succeed him. Mr. Cooke had been in public 
life as an assistant in the Assembly from Providence for the years 
1752-53-55-56-57-59 and Lieutenant Governor for the years 1768-69. 

He w-as acquainted with the leading men of the Colony, was 
familiar with the details of the government, and in earnest sympathy 
with the advanced patriotic sentiment of the people. As a native of 
Providence, he had been associated with the Browns, Bowens and 
Hopkins, in the business concerns of the town and had taken part 
in the public meetings on Colonial protection and policies. A man 



56 



of his sea-faring life and bold spirit might have been, as were the 
Browns and other bewigged citizens of Providence, a participant in 
the Gaspee affair. It is unfortunate that we of this day have no cata- 
logue of all the men who made up that expedition. Stephen Hop- 
kins must have been near the head of the procession, in advice and 
plan, if not in person. 

Governor Cooke at first strenuously declined the duties and re- 
sponsibilities of the chief seat in the Colony, but the influence of his 
friends, Governor Hopkins, Dr. Bowen and the Browns, led him to 
accept the office for which he was so well fitted and which he filled 
with great acceptance to the people. As evidence of his determined 
spirit one needs only to read the report of the Committee of Inspec- 
tion of the Town of Providence, of which Governor Cooke was 
chairman. This Committee was appointed to see that the town 
"faithfully and inviolably adhered to" the declarations of the Con- 
tinental Congress, relative to trade with Great Britain. Among the 
rules which the merchants and people of Providence were ordered 
to observe were : No direct or indirect importation of goods 
from Great Britain ; no India tea from any part of the world ; 
no molasses nor coffee from the British plantations ; no import or 
purchase of any slave and the discontinuance of the slave trade ; no 
purchase or use of any East India tea whatever; no exports to Great 
Britain ; merchants and owners of vessels to stop all orders and im- 
ports from Great Britain ; encourage the raising of sheep for meat 
and wool ; discourage horse-racing, gaming, cock-fighting, expensive 
shows, plays and diversions ; discontinue expensive funerals and giv- 
ing gloves and scarfs ; sell all manufactures at reasonable prices so 
that no advantage be taken of a scarcity of goods ; all these and other 
rules to be observed ''as a great means of extricating this country 
from impending ruin and slavery." 

During the interval between the election of Governor Wanton 
in May, 1775, and the succession of Governor Cooke, the principal 



56 



duty of commissioning officers for the army had been devolved on 
the Secretary of State Hon. Henry Ward, son of Governor Richard 
Ward. Among the Acts of the General Assembly were the removal 
from Newport to Providence of the Colony treasures, records and 
offices, for greater safety ; the passage of acts for raising and equip- 
ping troops, fixing pay of officers and men ; securing arms, tents and 
provisions necessary for an Army; choosing a Committee of Safety ; 
choosing the officers of the Army of C~)bservation, of which 
Nathaniel (jreene, Esq.. was made Brigadier General and James 
Mitchell X'arnum one of the Colonels. Lieutenant Governor Cooke 
was instructed to write James Wallace, Esq., Commander of the 
Ship Rose for unlawful interference with coasting vessels of the 
Colony, in which he said to Wallace that while he demeaned himself 
he might depend on protection ; otherwise, ''you may be assured that 
the whole power of this Colony will be exerted to secure the persons 
and property of the inhabitants against every lawless invader." To 
this Wallace replied : "I am unacquainted with you or what station 
you act in : Suppose 3'ou write in behalf of some body of people ,— 
I desire to know whether or not you or the people in whose beli.i f 
you write are not in open rebellion to your lawful sovereign and t!ie 
acts of the British legislature." Important rules and orders were 
adopted for the government of the army, and the Committee of 
Safet}- was directed to employ two vessels to be manned and armed 
to protect the trade of the Colony. Abraham Whipple was placed 
in command of the vessels, with the rank of Commodore. Post of- 
ficers and post riders were established, "in order to preserve an in- 
tercourse between the Colonies." Post offices were established at 
Providence, Newport, Bristol, Warren, Tower Hill and Westerly, 
postmasters were appointed, and rates and duties for postage were 
fixed ; the lowest rate for any distance not exceeding sixty miles was 
S/id. or 10 cents, and not exceeding one thousand miles 2s. 8p. or 
about 50 cents. Thursday, the 20th day of June, 1775, was observed 



as a day of fasting and prayer. Six additional companies.of sixty 
men each, were ordered raised and equipped. A committee was 
chosen to make an inventory of all the ammunition in all the towns. 
Job Watson of South Kingston was appointed to a post on Tower 
Hill to watch for any squadron of ships on the coast and to alarm 
the Colony and in case of an alarm the northern counties be ordered 
to march to Providence. A proclamation was issued, commanding 
every man in the colony who was able to bear arms to equip him- 
self completely with arms and ammunition. The town of Provi- 
dence was ordered to fix a beacon on Prospect Hill to alarm the 
country in case of an invasion. Two row-gallies were ordered 
built and equipped for protection and defence. 

On September 15th, 1775, the General Assembly was persuaded, 
that the building and equipping an American fleet as soon as possible 
would greatly and essentially conduce to the preservation of the 
laws, liberties and property of the good people of these colonies; 
and they therefore instructed their delegates, to use their whole in- 
fluence, at the ensuing Congress for building, at the Continental ex- 
pense, a fleet of sufficient forces for the protection of these colonies." 
In this resolution we find the initiative of our American Navy, 
when ready for service was placed in command of Esek Hopkins, 
brother of Stephen, as Admiral. 

In November. 1775, the General Assembly formally deix)sed 
Joseph Wanton from the governorship. Since "The whole course 
of his behaviors . . . hath continued to demonstrate that he 
is inimical to the rights and liberties of America, and is thereby ren- 
dered totally unfit to sustain said office." 

The balance of the legislative year, under Governor Nicholas 
Cooke, was devoted to the preparation of troops and the business of 
making ready for war. An Address to the Continental Congress by 
the Assembly set forth the exposed condition of the Colony by 
reason of easy access to its navigable waters, stating that "this Col- 



58 



ony is scarcely any thing but a line of sea-coast." And for that rea- 
son has been made the harbor of the ships of the enemy, on account 
of which the town of Newport has been depopulated and threatened 
with total destruction. After setting forth the efforts of the Colony 
in raising troops for home defence and the aid of sister Colonies, it 
asks Congress for assistance in Colonial defence. An Act was 
passed to encourage the manufacture of saltpetre and gunpowder. 
The town of Newport, in view of its disastrous condition and threat- 
ened destruction, was allowed to furnish beef and beer to the war- 
ships of the enemy stationed in the Bay. There followed a very in- 
teresting and important correspondence between Governor Cooke 
and General Washington, then in command of the American troops 
at Cambridge. 

The one act, which above all others, distinguishes Governor 
Cooke's administration and reflects the liii;hcst honor on the Colony 
of Rhode Island, was the Declaration of Independence of Great 
Britain, which passed the General Assembly at its session in the old 
State House, Providence, on the Fourth of May, 1776, just two 
months prior to the Declaration of the Thirteen Colonies at Phila- 
delphia on July 4, 1776. This Act repealed a previous Act of 
Allegiance to the Crown, and declared that hereafter the King's 
name and authority in this Colony was void and of no effect ; that 
the name of the Colony should be "The Governor and Company of 
the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,'* 
that the courts of law be no longer considered the King's Courts ; 
that no instrument in writing of any nature or kind whether public 
or private, shall, in the sale thereof mention the year of the King's 
reign and that all commissions, all writs and processes shall be is- 
sued, no longer in the name of the King, but in the name of the Gov- 
ernor and Company of this Colony. The Act was drawn by Col. 
Jonathan Arnold, a lineal descendant from Governor Benedict 
Arnold, 



59 



Unfortunately no record has been preserved of the debate that 
followed its introduction in the General Assembly. Governor Cooke 
wrote to Hon. Thomas Gushing of Massachusetts under date of 
May 6th. "The enclosed act passed the upper house unanimously 
and the lower house by a vast majority; There being upwards of 
sixty members present, and only six votes against it." 

The first act of the new government was "Instructions from the 
General Assembly of Rhode Island, to Stephen Hopkins and William 
Ellery, Delegates from the Colony to the Continental Congress," 
in which they are urged to provide and confirm "the strictest union 
and confederation" between the Colonies; "to secure to the said 
Colonies their rights and liberties, both civil and religious ;" "taking 
greatest care to secure to this Colon}', in the strongest and most per- 
fect manner, its present established form, and all the powers of gov- 
ernment, so far as relates to its internal policies and conduct of our 
own affairs, civil and religious." 

In Staples "Rhode Island in the Continental Congress" may be 
found valuable letters of Governor Cooke, one in particular in which 
he alludes to his successful manufacture of saltpetre. All his pub- 
lic life and records give a high conception of the excellent good 
sense and wise judgment of the Governor. Both Governor Cooke 
and Deputy Governor William Bradford declined a re-election in 
1778. Both were publicly thanked by the General Assembly "for 
their patriotic zeal, firmness and intrepidity." 

Governor Cooke died Nov. 14, 1782, and was buried in the 
North Burial Ground, Providence, where a plain shaft and a Revo- 
lutionary marker stand above his grave. 

Governor Cooke's biographers speak of him "as an honest man 
of affairs," of excellent common sense and good judgment, patriotic, 
zealous, firm, intrepid. The venerable John Howland said of him, 
"Rhode Island history, if faithfully written, will hand his name 
down to posterity in connection with most eminent public characters 



60 



of which our country can boast." He was a Trustee of Brown Uni- 
versity from 1766 until his death, representing the Congregational 
Church of which he was a member 



61 



EDWARD BOSWORTH. 

Edward Bosvvorth was born in Barrington in the year 1716, of 
good Pilgrim stock. His parents lived on the west bank of the 
Sowams or Barrington River, where he spent his long life on the 
ancestral farm. He was a hneal decendant of Nathaniel Boswortli 
of Bristol, one of the founders of that town, in 1683, and was an 
active man in Barrington town and church matters and held several 
ofhces in both, prior to the Revolution. 

Mr. Bosworth was one of a Committee of Correspondence, ap- 
pointed by the town, March 21, 1774, "to attend to all that relates to 
the liberties of America," — a heavy responsibility for a private citi- 
zen of the smallest town in the smallest Colony to shoulder. He 
undoubtedly bore his share of patriotic labors in behalf of America's 
liberties. 

Clippings from the Resolutions of the town of Barrington, 
passed at that March town meeting, will show what the patriots were 
talking about. 

"We will neither buy, sell, nor receive as a gift, any dutied tea 
nor have any dealings with any person or persons, that shall buy, 
sell, give receive or trade in said tea, directly or indirectly, knowing 
or suspecting it to be such." 

"It is the duty of every man in America to oppose, by all proper 
measures, to the utmost of his power and abilities, every attempt 
upon the liberties of his country.'' 

"We heartily unite with the town of Newport, and the other 
towns in this, and all the other sister colonies, and exert our whole 
force in support of the just rights and privileges of the American 
Colonies." 

"If any of the obnoxious tea should be brought into this town, 
or any other attempt made on the liberties of the inhabitants thereof, 
the Committee is directed and empowered to call a town meeting, 



62 



forthwith, that such measures may be taken as the pubHc safety may 
require." 

"We heartily unite in and resolve to support the foregoing re- 
solves with our lives and fortunes." 

These were a part of the series of Resolutions passed unani- 
mously by the town of Barrington, and ordered to be published in 
The Providexce Gazette, thirteen months before the first gun was 
fired at Concord Bridge and Lexington Common, and Edward Bos- 
worth and Thomas Allin were chosen as a part of the committee to 
see that the resolutions were executed. The other members of that 
important committee were James Brown, Josiah Humphrey, Samuel 
Allen, Nathaniel Martin and Moses Tyler. 

In May, 1776, the town of Barrington elected Edward Bos- 
worth, Esq., then sixty years of age, and Thomas Allin, Esq., after- 
wards a Brigadier General, as Deputies to the General Assembly, 
which passed the act of May 4, 1776, declaring our Colonial Inde- 
pendence of Great Britain. At that session of the General Assem- 
bly, Nathaniel Martin, Esq., of Barrington, was chosen colonel of 
the regiment of militia, in the county of Bristol. The Barrington 
company of militia had as officers, Thomas Allin, Captain ; \'iall 
Allen, Lieutenant; Daniel Kinnicutt, Ensign. 



GENERAL THOMAS ALLIN. 

Thomas Allin was one of the Deputies in the session of the 
General Assembly of Rhode Island at Providence, that adopted the 
Declaration of Independence May 4th, 1776. He was a lineal des- 
cendant of William Allin, who removed from Prudence Island in 
Narragansett Bay, to what was then Swansea in Plymouth Colony, 
but is now West Barrington, in the town of Barrington, R. I. His 
house stood about twenty rods east of the West Barrington station 



63 



of the Providence, Warren and Bristol R. R., on land now owned and 
occupied by Mr. Howard L. Smith. 

Thomas Allin, the son of Matthew and Ruth (Stockbridge) Al- 
lin, was born in Barrington, April 15, 1742; the grandson of Thomas 
and Anna (Barnes) Allin and the great grandson of William of Pru- 
dence Island, and West Barrington. Mr. Allin was brought up on 
his father's farm with the limited district school education of the 
day. He married May 29, 1768, Amy Bicknell of Barrington, 
learned the art of surveying and devoted his time for the rest of his 
life to the work of the farm and that of a public surveyor. Mr. Al- 
lin was a true patriot during the years and events that led to the 
American Revolution, and in 1774 was chosen one of the Committee 
of Correspondence. He served as Deputy in the General Assembly 
in 1772-3-4-5-6, 1781, 1791, 1794-5-6-7-8. 

In 1775, Mr. Allin was the representative for Barrington on 
the Colonial Committee of Safety. In June, 1775, Mr. Allin was 
chosen by the General Assembly Captain of the Barrington Co. of 
Militia and proceeded to drill his company half a day, once a fort- 
night, in Pickering's "Easy Plan of Discipline for Militia," bought 
by Capt. Allin on a visit to his brother, Capt. Matthew Allin, at 
Watertown, Mass. On April i, 1776, Capt. Thomas Allin appeared 
with forty-one members of his company on the alarm at Bristol. A 
month later Capt. Allin, then thirty-four years of age, and Edward 
Bosworth, Esq., then between fifty and sixty, sat in the House of 
Deputies and voted for the Revolutionary Act that made Rhode Isl- 
and an independent state — the first absolutely free commonwealth on 
the American continent. From this time until the end of the Rev- 
olutionary struggle, Capt. Allin, afterwards elected Brigadier Gen- 
eral of Militia, served his country in the field or in council. His 
record as it appears in the History of Barrington, and in the mili- 
tary and civil records of the state is an honorable one, for which 
the people of Rhode Island may be proud. Gen. Allin was a mem- 



64 



ber of the Convention of Rhode Island, in 1790, to adopt the Fed- 
eral Constitution and the votes of Samuel Allen, Esq., and Gen. 
Allin made the two majority which placed Rhode Island in the ranks 
of the old thirteen in the Federal union, the final vote standing 
thirty-four in favor to thirty-two a!::?;ainst. Had the two Barrington 
Deputies voted on opposite sides of the statehood question, the vote 
would have been a tie, and Rhode Island would have been an inde- 
pendent State, outside the bounds of the Great Republic. 

Gen. Allin died in Barrington May 30, 1800, at the age of 58, 
and was buried in the Allin family burial lot. on the ancestral farm 
in West Barrington. His grave is flagged and marked as a Revo- 
lutionary patriot and soldier, and flowers annually decorate his 
grave in memory of his distinguished services. 



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